I found a LUMP!

[lmurano2004]

So last night, while petting my baby, I noticed a nickel-sized lump under his skin, near his ribcage (he is a larger Yorkie, at 11 lbs). Of course, I panicked. I brought him to his vet this morning.
The vet said it is not his microchip... it doesn't seem to be a tumor or cancer (since he's only a year old and in good health)... it's not a reaction to the shots he got on Sunday (it's too low on his body to be that)... he's not quite sure what it is.
He said that it could be something as simple as a splinter under his skin that is irritated. It doesn't seem to hurt or bother Rico at all. The vet gave me an antibiotic (Cefpodoxime) and a pain med/anti-inflammatory (Rimadyl), in case it starts to bother him. He said to come back in 2 weeks, or sooner if it starts to change.

Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions? Overall, Rico is a healthy and young dog.. but I am still worried it could be something bad. Thank you so much for your advice and input!

[Lucia]

Gosh, that must have been so scary for u....you did the best thing in getting your baby straight to the vet. If you're not 100% confident of your vets diagnosis then maybe there is another vet u can go to for a second opinion? I'm sorry I cant be of more help.....hopefully this will bump your post up and someone may have some better advice for u. I wish u all the best xxx xxx

[GeorgiaOnMyMind]

I have no idea what it could be. Two weeks is a long time to wait though, I agree with Lucia on seeing if maybe there was another vet you could see.

I can tell you that one time I had a long hair cat and he had the same thing but it was the size of a half dollar. I took him to the vet and they lanced it and it ended up being hair that had to continued to grown underneath the skin. Before they lanced it was when they thought it might have been cancer too. But when they looked inside that's what it was. They would have taken a biopsy and sent it off had they not found the hair. They said it was a pretty common thing with long haired animals. The weird thing was that he also had hair grown on top of it. I would have thought that the follicles would have been bald. IDK

It could be anything, I know it's useless to say this, but try not to worry until you have to or need to.

You will both be in my prayers and please keep us updated.

[gidgetann]

Originally Posted by lmurano2004

So last night, while petting my baby, I noticed a nickel-sized lump under his skin, near his ribcage (he is a larger Yorkie, at 11 lbs). Of course, I panicked. I brought him to his vet this morning.
The vet said it is not his microchip... it doesn't seem to be a tumor or cancer (since he's only a year old and in good health)... it's not a reaction to the shots he got on Sunday (it's too low on his body to be that)... he's not quite sure what it is.
He said that it could be something as simple as a splinter under his skin that is irritated. It doesn't seem to hurt or bother Rico at all. The vet gave me an antibiotic (Cefpodoxime) and a pain med/anti-inflammatory (Rimadyl), in case it starts to bother him. He said to come back in 2 weeks, or sooner if it starts to change.

Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions? Overall, Rico is a healthy and young dog.. but I am still worried it could be something bad. Thank you so much for your advice and input!

I found a lump similar to what you describe on my 4 lb yorkie, Gidget. She is on Chemo Treatment so I thought it was from that but am going to her regular vet appt on monday and am planning to ask about it. Please let me know if you find anything else out and I will let you know what I find out. Thanks, Lee Ann

[Mom to Hot Rod]

I think that I might get a second opinion. I am not a vet but I don't understand how it can be determined that it is not cancer without a biospy. I may be wrong, but that just doesn't sound right. As for being so young and healthy, you can never be too sure. I am not trying to scare you but I think I would get another opinion. Good Luck.

[GurleyGirl]

My Mickey had a lump on his belly about a year or so ago. I went to
the vet thinking the worst... anyway.... it was a PIMPLE!

Here's hoping you find out what it is.

[bellasmomok]

Originally Posted by lmurano2004

So last night, while petting my baby, I noticed a nickel-sized lump under his skin, near his ribcage (he is a larger Yorkie, at 11 lbs). Of course, I panicked. I brought him to his vet this morning.
The vet said it is not his microchip... it doesn't seem to be a tumor or cancer (since he's only a year old and in good health)... it's not a reaction to the shots he got on Sunday (it's too low on his body to be that)... he's not quite sure what it is.
He said that it could be something as simple as a splinter under his skin that is irritated. It doesn't seem to hurt or bother Rico at all. The vet gave me an antibiotic (Cefpodoxime) and a pain med/anti-inflammatory (Rimadyl), in case it starts to bother him. He said to come back in 2 weeks, or sooner if it starts to change.

Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions? Overall, Rico is a healthy and young dog.. but I am still worried it could be something bad. Thank you so much for your advice and input!

BE CAREFUL with the Rimadyl!!! Google it to find out more.....I can't remember exactly what I read about it but it was NOT good!! I may have read about it on YT even...you can search on here too. I'll do a quick search and see if I can find what I read about it before....

[bellasmomok]

Ok, I did a YT search using the Google bar at the bottom of the page and found TONS of stuff.....you should do that to see all the stuff, and you can read more about it on the web too, but here is an article on YT'er posted (I copied and pasted it, including it's link):

Even painkillers for dogs have serious risks
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Like pain relievers for humans, pain relievers for dogs are big business, improving the lives of millions.
And like pain relievers for humans, those for dogs have led to heartache.

Pfizer pioneered the market for dog painkillers when it introduced Rimadyl in 1997. Nearly 15 million dogs have taken it, many for pain from degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis.

Rimadyl now has four competitors with more likely. The market for dog arthritis pain medications tops $130 million a year and is growing about 13% a year, consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says.

But 3,200 dogs have died or been put down after taking the drugs, Food and Drug Administration records show. Almost 19,000 dogs have had bad reactions to them.

The FDA says the drugs are safe, if properly used. Drugmakers say fewer than 1% of dogs have bad reactions to them. If not for the drugs, many dogs might be put to sleep sooner, they say.

"In theory, the drugs are safer for dogs than aspirin," says Steve Marks, head of small-animal medicine at the University of Illinois.

Yet the deaths and other adverse events are a reminder that all drugs pose risks, including those for animals. They also underscore that a drug's risks may not be fully known until the drug is widely sold, despite the FDA's stamp of approval.

Several million dogs received Rimadyl before its warning label was updated to add mention of death in rare cases. No. 2 pain reliever Deramaxx was marketed for a year before its label was so changed.

Despite stronger warnings and other safeguards, the drugs continue to create controversy. Some dog owners and veterinarians say the drugs are being overprescribed by vets who don't always give risk information to owners and who, like doctors for humans, are often educated on drugs by pharmaceutical companies.

"There are no safe drugs. There are only safe doctors," says Robert Rogers, founder of the Critter Fixer Pet Hospital in Spring, Texas. "The large number of adverse events occur with these drugs because veterinarians don't know how to use them." Drugmakers share the blame, he says. Their sales representatives often fail to present adequate risk information.

Adverse-event reports

Through November 2004, the FDA received almost 13,000 adverse-event reports about Rimadyl, far more than for any other dog pain reliever.

Pfizer's database includes almost 20,000 adverse-event reports. The FDA's data include those "possibly" or "probably" linked to the drug. Adverse events for all drugs are believed to be under-reported.

Pfizer won't release Rimadyl's revenue, but it says Rimadyl has the most reports because it's the oldest and biggest dog pain reliever.

Deramaxx has been used by about 1 million dogs since its 2002 launch, owner Novartis says. The FDA's data include 2,813 adverse-event reports for Deramaxx, including 630 dogs who died or were put down.

Rimadyl, with a generic name of carprofen, originated at Roche Laboratories as an anti-inflammatory drug for people. Deramaxx was developed by Novartis for dogs but was discovered by G.D. Searle, where Celebrex originated.

Both Rimadyl and Deramaxx are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, as is ibuprofen and aspirin for humans. Deramaxx is also a COX-2 inhibitor, like Celebrex and Vioxx, the pain reliever for people withdrawn from the market in September because of heart attack and stroke risk.

NSAIDs cause many of the same problems in dogs that they do in humans: Vomiting, diarrhea and ulcers are the most common. Reports of heart problems associated with dog NSAIDs are rare, the FDA says.

Before getting FDA approval, Rimadyl was tested in 549 dogs; Deramaxx in about 700. That's far fewer than the number of subjects in clinical drug trials for human drugs. Erectile dysfunction drug Cialis, for instance, was evaluated in more than 4,000 patients before it got FDA approval.

When it hit the market, Rimadyl was heralded as a "wonder drug" for freeing dogs from pain. Happy, bounding dogs were shown on TV commercials. "No drug in the history of veterinarian medicine has been met with such instant success," says Steve Dale, host of radio show Steve Dale's Pet World.

Rimadyl's fast start had a dark side: Reports of dogs suffering liver damage and other effects began pouring in. One of those dogs was George, a 12-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever owned by Jean Townsend of Johns Island, S.C.

She saw the Rimadyl ads and asked her veterinarian whether Rimadyl could help George, who, while seemingly healthy, was moving slower. Rimadyl seemed to work, but after several weeks, George sometimes couldn't move. He started vomiting and had blood in his stool. Within 30 days of starting Rimadyl, George was put down. An autopsy showed liver damage, ulceration and bleeding.

"I had no earthly idea I was killing my dog," says the 68-year-old retired government worker.

Townsend says she wasn't warned of the risks and didn't ask, trusting her veterinarian. She refused Pfizer's offer of $249 and filed a lawsuit in 1999 that was joined by 300 others.

Pfizer settled in 2003 to avoid costly litigation, it says. Each plaintiff received about $1,000. Pfizer didn't admit wrongdoing and says it informed the FDA of side effects as soon as they were reported.

"We were incapable of informing the world of what we didn't know," spokesman Robert Fauteux says.

Pfizer updated Rimadyl's label twice, the last time in 1999 noting that death occurred in rare instances. That year, it stopped TV ads. Today's print ads include the death warning.

Owners don't always get info

Deramaxx took a similar path. It went to market in 2002 with a label saying the drug "was well tolerated" with an adverse event rate comparable to dogs treated with placebos. Once again, adverse events after the drug was sold proved otherwise.

Both drugmakers now issue information sheets for dog owners describing the drugs' risks and proper use. Pfizer even attaches the sheet to Rimadyl bottles. But it may not get to consumers because veterinarians frequently repackage drugs into smaller vials. Marks says risk information is rarely discussed with clients. The FDA has said pet owners often complain about not getting the sheets.

Pooter, a 7-year-old black Labrador, went in for a checkup in February, says his owner Vickie McCullen-Main, 52, of Bethel Springs, Tenn. Pooter's veterinarian diagnosed a respiratory infection, prescribed NSAID Metacam and sent him home with a week's supply of Rimadyl and an antibiotic.

The doctor "never mentioned anything at all about the risks," says McCullen-Main. Nor did he check Pooter's blood to make sure he didn't have weaknesses that would make him a bad NSAID candidate.

Pooter started to drool, lost his appetite and bladder control. Thirteen days after his checkup, he was put to sleep. McCullen-Main says Pooter should not have received medication for pain because, "He didn't have pain."

She doesn't want Rimadyl or the other NSAIDs removed from the market. She just wants people to know, "These drugs have risks."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ain-usat_x.htm

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

u are the first person i have found to mention all of the taboos with the meds and food and stuff they are giving us to give our bbykins...and then later our bbykins pay the price beside us robbing our pocket books through fear of our bbykin getting sick and such

Re; the Bump..
if the bumps moves it is probably not cancer...

our dog has one too since he was little ..it is from the vacination!

yes the poison they inject to ur bbykin..i was told it is a reaction
and it will probably be there for ever...

ours is 11 years old and still has it same size and moves and not a threat.
he is healthy happy and we do not subject him to any more vet abuse..

the best way to choose a vet is too ask them what they know about animal nutrition..most of them only know brands of dog food
not the dogs requirements...

can u imagine urself going to the doctor and he tells u only eat cheerios for the rest of ur life ..they have all the nurients u will need for the rest of ur life ?????

that is what we are doing to our bbykins ...

Good Luck to ur bbykin and the bump ...hope all will be well....

[bellasmomok]

I just thought I would share with you my experience with "lumps" on my animals:

First, my cat Lily had a dime-nickel sized moveable lump near her left hip. I'm in the medical field, so my first thought was to watch it and see if it got bigger....cancerous tumors are almost always rapidly growing--what makes the cells cancerous is that 1) the cells don't have the code in them to stop growing..cells are supposed to turn on, grow to the appropriate size for their function, and then turn back off, but cancer cells never turn off; and 2) they usually attach to other cells (even blood cells which distribute them around the body cause it to metastasize) causing those cells to change and become like they are....rapidly growing and not stopping. Anyway, I watched it and it never got any bigger, but I asked the vet about it anyway when she was in again. He took an aspiration biopsy (stuck a needle in and sucked any liquid (there wasn't any) along with some of the cells inside the mass into the needle) and looked at it under a microscope. He said it definitely wasn't cancerous (you can tell by looking at the cells) and that he felt it was most likely a foreign body reaction site (like getting a splinter, etc... under the skin and forming a lump because it doesn't belong there and is irritating the surrounding tissue--sort of the bodies way of confining the foreign body). As an alternative it could be a lipoma, which is a "tumor" (benign) made of fat cells--people get them all the time--I see them a lot. He said that if it were a foreign body it would eventually go away, but a lipoma would not. She still has the lump, and has had it for probably close to 2 years now, and it hasn't changed in size or shape, so I'm guessing it's probably a lipoma.

Second, when I first got Bella (my Yorkie), she had a little moveable lump near her left shoulder, and the breeder made sure to let me know that it was where she had her first vaccination and it would go away. It did go away, but she got another one each time she had her additional vaccinations. They have all gone away over a couple of weeks or so.

If your dog's lump is not near the injection site for a vaccine (which would be near a shoulder blade) and/or it has lasted for more than a couple of weeks or so, I would think it's probably a lipoma. Google "lipoma" and see what you think. (Emedicine.com is a really good people resource) Pets can get lipomas just like people can. Now, it the lump were growing at all, I would definitely get into someone who would do an aspiration biopsy (that's just how they biopsy superficial (close to the skin) masses). I have a feeling it's probably nothing to worry about at all. Just watch it!